Robot Competition –14 and 15 August
As part of a theme day, we had to build a robot using legos to successfully traverse an obstacle field, reach some gems, and then collect the gems. In the end, we were not successful, but we had a blast making our robot in spite of all the other activities going on that time. The crew was Hideaki, Satoko, Ken, Dawn, Su-Yin, and me.
Our robot was supposed to sense its way through the big rocks, then turn around and scope up the gems in the gem field, with a final sweeping action to pull them into the vehicle. We had a drive train problem in the end and we bogged down, but it was fun getting nowhere!
What Does The Manual Say? 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. While everyone else looked at the cool parts, Su-Yin found the manual! She built a standard sensor and I built a standard drive system. Both were modified later with improvements but it was a good starting point.
Building the Sensor. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Su-Yin and Dawn starting building the front sensor while Ken played with parts. Actually Ken was responsible for the gem collection design.
Computing Central. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Satoko-san was the program expert, with algorithm design by Satoko and Hideaki with some ides from me (that I think in the end were all rejected).
Hard At Work. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Su-Yin had probably finished the sensor by this point, Ken was on design iteration 38 of 65 789 of the gem collector, and I was probably frustrated because I couldn't find any parts. Hideaki-san was working on algorithms.
Dawn and Ken Design. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Dawn and Ken on design iteration 857 of 65 789 of the gem collector. It was probably shortly after I took this picture than Ken told me he didn't like my idea and I tossed a part into the lego box and left the room. I cooled down and put a lego robot in perspective and had a lot more fun.
The Final Design Completed Robot. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. The finished robot in the midst of its original elements (lego parts).
Other Teams in the Robot Room Just Starting. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Other teams trying to figure out just what they were going to do.
Brian Reaches the End of His Rope. 14 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Brian collapsed into a quivering mass at one point. Actually I think he was just checking clearances between the launching pad and something but the picture is funny.
Blaise and Erik. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. You hope Blaise will be successful since he works on Ariane 5 control systems. Erik seems quite interested in the mechanical aspects of his robot.
The Competition - 15 August 2003 Big Crowd, Competition. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. We had a lot of locals come to watch the robot competition. Things must be slow in Strasbourg!
Posing at the Competition. 15 August 2003. Posted 18 September 2003. Don't ask me why Ken is flashing gang signs in half his pictures, but anyway, here well all are again with the robot.
